To Help Develop the Mind and Body

A young Kyoshi 7 dan from Japan visited the dojo that I practice at this week. I’ll refer to him as “O” sensei as he preferred not having his name mentioned. He had once placed near the top in the Kanagawa-ken prefecture stage of the annual All-Japan Kendo Tournament after losing to Takanabe Susumu (Kyoshi 7 dan).

When I did keiko with O sensei, I was astonished by his ability to strike me at moments just before or as I was about to launch an attack. I have often experienced being hit while moving forward a heartbeat or more after launching an attack against strong sensei‘s. However, it’s been ages since I last experienced being hit just before or just as I would even start to move – as described by Miyamoto Musashi from Section 24 “Sen (the initiative) of “The Kendo Reader” by Noma Hisashi [Noma, p. 53]:

When the opponent tries to strike he will be stopped at the very onset of his attempt, at the S of Strike and not be allowed to continue on. For example you must stop the opponent when he tries to attack at the A of the Attack.

Update: Added an insight from neuroscience, Mar 18, 2019.

How Did He Do It?

When I spoke with O sensei afterwards, he kindly described what he was doing. He “observes” the opponent intently (not intensely) while creating and looking for an opportunity to launch a strike (e.g. when the opponent is about to strike, go backwards or is confused or stuck from one of the four sicknesses (shikai) [KendoInfo_Shikai] as also described by Saburo Iwatate (Hanshi, 8 dan) in “Kendo-related Quotes.”)

If your mind is innocent (free of preconception), you can see through all your opponents actions and strike freely without any hesitation, catching every available chance. – Matsumoto Toshio (Hanshi, 9 dan) [KendoInfo_Matsumoto]

If you are thinking about some sort of ideal or worldly thoughts then you can’t move freely. If your spirit is like a mirror you will be able to respond to your opponents movements and execute techniques freely. – Morishima Tateo (Hanshi, 8 dan) [Kenshi247_Morishima4]

There’s a clarity of perception – the pureness of perception – that comes in when the conditioned (mind) is no longer operating. – Eckhart Tolle [Tolle, 3:57 min mark]

Otherwise, we may miss seeing opportunities to strike or may strike in the absence of such an opportunity. For example, some, including myself, may tend to strike when “we” want to strike – while paying less attention to the state of the opponent and more towards ourselves. Koda Kunihide (Kyoshi 8 dan) refers to this self-centered approach to kendo as “Wagamama kendo” or selfish kendo.* Alas, why strike when the opponent seems ready to strike and has no apparent opening or vulnerability?

Other Aspects to How He Did It

Of course there are many other ingredients to O sensei‘s remarkable ability to strike me just before I would even start to move: his beautiful kamae, seme, footwork, speed… Nonetheless, “seeing” appears to be a most important component as reflected in this kendo proverb:

Moreover, there is a scientific angle which may explain O sensei‘s uncanny ability to strike me so early in the process of my initiating a strike. There are neuroscience studies [Libet][Soon][Matsuhashi] which suggest that:

a person’s brain seems to commit to certain decisions before the person becomes aware of having made them. Researchers have found delays of about half a second or more. With contemporary brain scanning technology, scientists in 2008 were able to predict with 60% accuracy whether subjects would press a button with their left or right hand up to 10 seconds before the subject became aware of having made that choice [Soon].[Wiki_Neuroscience]

We may unconsciously decide and reveal our intention to strike before being consciously aware of our decision to initiate a strike.**

Some Tips to Develop Seeing

Here’s some tips from O sensei and others to help develop seeing in general and recognizing an opportune moment to attack:

Practice observing the opponent while creating and sensing opportunities to strike and then striking at the “right” moment.

This is contrast to attacking whenever you might “feel” like it – especially when you could strike with ease or a high probability of success.

This exercise tends to be easier, of course, with weaker opponents and more difficult with stronger ones.

Take advantage of the time when serving as a motodachi and receiving strikes e.g. during uchikomi-geiko. ~ O sensei:***

Watch for the moment when the opponent is about to strike.

Also, watch “while” moving.

To develop the ability to intuit an opportunity to strike, O sensei recommended ai-kakari-geiko at varying distances or ma-ai.

This ability to “predict” opportunities beforehand is needed because “at the moment of seeing an opportunity to strike, already the opportunity no longer exists [Noma, pp. 50-51].”

When practicing with a high-level sensei (e.g. a 8 dan sensei), O sensei noted how he and many may be expected to initiate attacks (しかけるように）with less space for “observing.”

And that, in such situations, we can shift back to observing more if the sensei calls for a one-point match (ippon-shobu) or admonishes us for attacking indiscriminately.

Wrap-up

I thank O and Shoraku sensei for their comments. May you “see” more clearly.

* Koda Kunihide (Kyoshi 8 dan) described this during the 2018 All United States Kendo Federation (AUSKF) Summer Camp. Wagamama means selfish, self-indulgent or childish in Japanese. Thanks to Susan Zau sensei for sharing this with me.

** I’d like to acknowledge a meditation colleague for pointing out to me this area of research.

*** This was O sensei’s response to my quandary on how I could develop the ability to simultaneously “observe” and “move” (to create opportunities to strike with seme and hikidasu). Though I’ve had some success in doing one or the other, I have struggled with doing both in parallel.